To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the design of statutory risk assessment procedures in both the United Kingdom and the European Union in detecting chronic sub-clinical effects such as endocrine disruption caused by low-level exposure to toxic chemicals.

The human health risk assessments performed for chemicals in the UK and European Union are in line with internationally accepted procedures; for example, those described by the World Health Organisation. For substances such as pesticides, extensive animal study data sets are required, including chronic/carcinogenicity and reproduction studies. A full range of end points is routinely examined, including sub-clinical effects. Acceptable exposure for humans is determined by dividing by a factor of 100 (or more), a dose that produces no effect in the most sensitive animal study. Due to the large number of general chemicals addressed by the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of Chemicals (REACH) Regulation (EC No. 1907/2006), a tiered testing approach is undertaken. More extensive data are required for those substances produced or imported in the greatest amounts.

Recent publications in the scientific, peer reviewed literature indicate that this approach is as applicable to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDs) as it is to other classes of chemicals. This is supported by the recent Opinion of the Scientific Committee of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA Journal 2013;11(3):3132), which stated that ‘EDs can therefore be treated like most other substances of concern for human health and the environment’. The studies that are required to be undertaken for regulatory purposes are expected to identify any compounds that act on endocrine sensitive tissues or hormonally controlled physiological processes. Any such effects are considered as part of the overall risk assessment.